Truss



UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A. W. PATTERSON, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRUSS.

I Specification of Letters Patent No. 4,952, dated February 5, 1847'.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, A. W. PATTERSON, of the city of Pittsburgh, county off Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania,vhave invented a Self-Adjusting Truss for the Radical Cure of Hernia, and do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,

, reference being had to the annexed drawing of the same, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view, and Fig. 2 a vertical section.

00nstrucz'0n-.-The body of the truss is composed of a usual spring, covered with the usual material. The neck a is round, bent as usual, and attenuated to the length of three or four inches. At the end, .it widens into a butto-n form and is made fast to a center pin riveted into it. This pin which is, say, three-quarters of an inch long, one quarter in diameter, and round, descends through a brass plate c, that covers the block, and is secured on the other side by a screw-nut, on which the plate revolves and enjoys a tendency to rock to any point. To enable the block to preserve a common center, between the plate and the neck, fixed on a square collar of the pin, are two halfelliptic springs CZ, crossing each other at right angles, and of such size and strength as to suit the block and be subservient to the body-spring, the points resting on the plate and the middle against the neck, which keeps the neck and plate separate about half an inch. This plate is firmly fixed by screws on a wooden block e, of such a form that its central or thickest part will be always directly under the center pin. Underneath the pin a hole is made to allow t-he pin to descend and the springs to act, when pressure is applied to the block.

Operation-The peculiar nature of this invention consists in furnishing the block, the desirable property of always preserving a common center, when any part of it is acted upon, thereby enabling it to adapt itself to any movement made by the patient and to remain firmly fixed to the parts whatever attitude they Inay take; consequently avoiding all liability to permit a rupture to escape from underneath it, either by displacement, or a portion of it raising from the parts to which it is applied, while its line susceptibility to yield to any movement, happily obviates the severity complained of in wearing other trusses with wood blocks. These it accomplisheslst. By a cent-ral principle of motion, which itexecutes by yielding centerwise when acted upon too severely by the body spring or other agents.

2d. By a circular principle of motion which it performs around a common center, when pressed laterally to produce the same.

3d. By a rocking principle of motion which it is enabled to perform in any direction, as exigency may require.

Therefore, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The mode or manner of producing this universal, self-adjusting property of the block, combined by the three principles above explained and developed. That is to say, claim the beforeV described peculiar combination and arrangement of the halfelliptic springs crossed at right angles, center pin and plate arranged and operating in the manner and for the purpose above set forth; or any other combination and arrangement analogous thereto, producing like results.

A. W. PATTERSON. W'itnesses WM. P. ELLIOT, J. FRANCIS MAILER. 

